Free agency is set to begin next week and everyone is wonder what the Detroit Lions are going to do when they have a chance to bring in some new players. What we already know is that the Lions are expected to be aggressive in their pursuit of a high end corner per rumblings heard in Indianapolis.
That should be the only position they make a splash at in the offseason. They could certainly bring in some other talent at different positions, but right now it seems evident that the Lions will avoid this years crop of pass rashers.
The reasons are simple. They’re incredibly expensive. The Lion are going to be looking to extend Jared Goff this offseason and there’s rumors that they’ll also be looking to set up Amon-Ra St. Brown with a large extension. We recently projected an entire offseason worth of extensions and re-signings for the Lions and they’re left with around $39 million to spend. That’s a lot of money to be able to get what you want, but they’ll likely roll some of that over to next year when they have to extend Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson and Alim McNeill if they don’t do the last one this offseason.
With all that in mind, it’s hard to believe that they would sign guys like Daniele Hunter who is projected to get a $67 million deal, Brian Burns who is expected to get a $90 million deal or Christian Wilkins who could get a $92 million deal. That’s just too much to invest for a team that’s all about drafting players that they can extend later.
There’s still deals that the Lions can make for defensive line help. Guys like Bryce Huff, D.J. Wonnum, Denico Autry or Grover Stewart are expected to be much cheaper options and still guys that can get production. The draft is where they’ll probably look to add pass rushers. The first few rounds offer some intriguing prospects that will be in the Lions range.
They can also get a guy that fits the aforementioned format of drafting players and then extending them later. They’ll have the money to do that if they don’t heavily invest on the line in free agency this year. Plus the cornerback draft class is deep. The Lions could still draft there, but they can find there number one corner in free agency and they can spend a lot less doing that then finding their pass rusher.